Kitty’s review of Hunting Eichmann by Neal Bascomb

Kitty

Pretty Much Settled in

Posts : 159Join date : 2009-08-03Age : 41

Adolf Eichmann was the Nazi in charge of the “Final Solution” which was the operation to remove Jews from their homes, install them in ghettos, and eventually send them for extermination at the concentration camps. In Hunting Eichmann we follow Adolf Eichmann through the final days of World War II and into hiding as the newborn nation of Israel’s secret service, the Mossad diligently worked to track him down and bring justice to the Jewish people. Over 15 years and several continents, the Mossad caught up with Eichmann living under the name Ricardo Klement, in a rural slum outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina with his wife and children. This monumental feat was accomplished by a small, all-volunteer team of Mossad agents, all of whom had lost loved ones and some had even been imprisoned in the concentration camps under Eichmann’s command. It took many months of investigation and surveillance and the assistance of Jewish residents of Argentina to find Eichmann’s actual location and formulate his capture and removal to Israel for trial.On the evening of May 11th 1960 Eichmann was apprehended as he walked home from the bus stop. While elated at the success of their mission, the Mossad agents were stunned by the revulsion they felt at being in the presence of the man responsible for the torture and death of their families and friends; some members of the team were so repulsed that they refused to even touch him without wearing gloves. On May 21st 1960, Eichmann was smuggled aboard an Israeli commercial airliner and taken to Israel to stand trial and was subsequently found guilty and executed two years later on May 31st 1962. I found that Neal Bascomb’s Hunting Eichmann is not just a biography, but a well-researched and well-told story that gives you an insight to the men, women and events involved in bringing one of history’s most notorious characters to justice.

The tension in the small rented house was palpable as the small group of men and women awaited further orders regarding the fate of their captive; the notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The group was stunned at the depth of their reaction to being in contact with Eichmann. This plain, little old man was responsible for the death and destruction of millions of Jews across Europe.While elated at the success of their mission, the Mossad agents were stunned by the depth of the revulsion they felt at being in the presence of the man responsible for the torture and death of their families and friends; some members of the team were so repulsed that they refused to even touch their prisoner without wearing gloves. Adolf Eichmann was the Nazi in charge of the “Final Solution” which was the operation to remove Jews from their homes, install them in ghettos, and eventually send them for extermination at the concentration camps. On the evening of May 11th 1960 Adolf Eichmann was apprehended as he walked home from the bus stop. It had taken many months of investigation and surveillance and the assistance of Jewish residents of Argentina to find Eichmann’s actual location and formulate his capture and removal to Israel for trial. In Hunting Eichmann you are taken along on surveillance and reconnaissance missions, taught what really happens behind the scenes at a real secret agency and introduced to the types of seemingly common people that are required to pull off such fantastic feats, that you will sit back and say “No Way!”Neal Bascomb’s Hunting Eichmann will appeal not only to the history buffs, but to anyone interested in a novel of intrigue and daring. I was apprehensive when I received this copy, as in my experience, biographies tend to read like… well, certainly not like a page-turning novel of suspense and spies. I found that Neal Bascomb’s Hunting Eichmann is not just a biography, but a well-researched and well-told story that gives you an insight to the men, women and events involved in bringing one of history’s most notorious characters to justice.Hunting Eichmann